[1] Inger's high school biology teacher was Julian Steyermark, who became curator of botany at the Field Museum.

Steyermark was the role model that led Inger to the Field Museum to volunteer, where he was interviewed by Karl P. Schmidt, Dwight Davis, and Clifford H. Pope.

As a result of this volunteer work, Inger had authored or coauthored five publications before graduating from high school.

[1] Inger's herpetology career began with volunteer work at the Field Museum, where he was eventually hired as assistant curator of fishes in 1949.

This honor was conferred in recognition of Inger's 50 years of field work in Borneo describing, cataloguing and publishing on the taxonomy and ecology of herpetofauna in Sarawak.